Drop Polavaram-Banakacharla river linkage venture, says former NDMA vice chief

Reddy mentioned he had written to chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on August 6 to drop the proposal for the Polavaram-Banakacharla venture that seeks to divert Godavari waters to the Krishna River after which to the Pennar basin and as a substitute comply with the “four-water idea” adopted by the Rajasthan authorities.

Reddy, son of former chief minister Dr Marri Channa Reddy, recalled that in his earlier stint because the chief minister of mixed Andhra Pradesh in 2000, Naidu had launched the “Neeru-Meeru” programme by constituting a Water Conservation Mission (WCM) with many eminent specialists, together with late T Hanumantha Rao.

The professional committee advisable implementation of the Watershed Growth tasks based mostly on 4 Waters Idea (FWC), which is efficient utilisation of rainwater, soil moisture as much as water desk degree, floor water and floor water. This know-how stresses on water spreading methods to facilitate recharge to floor water, within the higher areas of the watershed, by way of mini percolation tanks, he mentioned.

Reddy mentioned the scheme launched in October 2001 coated practically 84 villages in Telangana and about 120 villages in Rayalaseema and it had yielded glorious outcomes. “As an illustration, at Gottigaripalli village of Kohir block in Sangareddy district the scheme, carried out at a value of about ₹5,000 per acre, persistently offered water for 3 crops in a yr,” he mentioned.

He mentioned subsequently, the FWC was utterly ignored within the Telugu states, it was efficiently carried out in Rajasthan by former chief minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia below the “Mukhyamantri Jal Swavalamban Abhiyan” (MJSA) between 2014 and 2018.

Sarcastically, a Telangana authorities engineer Md Afsar went on deputation to implement the programme in Rajasthan, he mentioned.

Reddy appealed to Naidu, who had sowed the seed for FWC through the tenure of mixed Andhra Pradesh in 2001, to significantly think about it as a viable, low-cost different to the Polavaram–Banakacherla Challenge.

This may be carried out in about two years, able to offering water for 3 crops yearly to cater to 30 lakh acres for a complete price of simply ₹4,500 crore on the fee of ₹15,000 per acre at right now’s charges. This will likely be a fraction of even the minimal primary estimated price of ₹81,900 crore for the Polavaram-Banakacharla venture, he mentioned.